Conference Attendance (Costs)

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff (a) from the Valuation Office Agency, (b) HM Revenue and Customs and (c) his Department attended (i) the International Property Tax Institute International Conference in Prague in August 2005, (ii) the Southern African Tax Institute Workshop on the Valuation and Rating of Public Service Infrastructure in June 2005 in Pretoria, South Africa and (iii) the Eighth International Conference of the Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation in Alicante, Spain in February 2005; and what the total estimated cost to the public purse was of attendance at each of the events.

Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is as follows:
	
		
			  Number of staff attending 
			  VOA HMRC HMT Cost (£) 
		
		
			 Event 
			 IPTI Conference Prague August 2005 1 0 0 600 
			 SATI Conference Pretoria June 2005 100 0 — — 
			 IRRV Conference Alicante February 2005 300 950 — —